Child-welfare reforms now in the works come too late for four Denver boys raised in almost feral conditions, but could alter the lives of other abused and neglected children.

Colorado’s system to prevent child abuse is in the midst of a massive overhaul, a transition so huge that state officials and children’s advocates describe it as an ocean liner shifting course. Still, lawmakers and advocates are skeptical about whether the remake is enough.

A statewide hotline opening in January 2015 will capture and record every call regarding child abuse and neglect. And when a subsequent call is made about the same family, the call screener can listen to recordings of previous calls and more easily retrieve information about a family’s history with child welfare.

The point is to prevent situations such as the one that recently horrified the Denver community.

Four boys were rescued Sept. 30 from an apartment filled with feces, maggots, flies and stray cats after their mother took the youngest to a doctor with a cut on his forehead. Previous calls to child-protective workers were ignored, even though the parents had lost three older siblings in 2006 and neighbors had called authorities concerned about the latest group of kids.

Both sets of children spoke only in grunts and were not potty trained.

Key to the hotline’s success is a revamp of Colorado’s caseworker training program. The state soon will require hotline staff to earn certification before fielding calls; currently no training specific to call screening is required. Caseworkers in every county must participate, and the state hotline number will route to each county.

Instead of placing newer caseworkers on the front line, more experienced caseworkers will answer the hotline.

“This gives me tremendous hope that we will respond better in the future,” said Stephanie Villafuerte, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center and longtime critic of the current child-welfare system. “I am really heartened by this project, more than I have been heartened by anything in the last eight years. The time is right.”

The state has yet to determine how much the hotline will cost.

Colorado also is requiring counties to set up six-member teams that will re-evaluate every call that comes through the hotline next year. That means a single caseworker will not decide to “screen out,” or not follow up, on a call alleging abuse; that decision is up to the team.

Calls that don’t rise to a level of abuse that requires further investigation and caseworker visits won’t necessarily get ignored. Instead, under a new program expanding statewide in the next three years, parenting coaches can visit the homes of at-risk families to teach everything from how to put safety covers on electrical sockets to how to deal with temper tantrums.

The program, called SafeCare, began in 15 rural counties last month.

Most of the reforms are the result of a child-welfare agenda announced by Gov. John Hickenlooper after a Denver Post/9 News investigation last year that found 40 percent of kids who die of abuse and neglect in this state had caregivers who were known to child-protection workers before their deaths.

Last month’s rescue of four boys — ages 2, 4, 5 and 6 — revived statewide conversation about whether the system to protect children is broken.

Sen. Linda Newell, a Littleton Democrat who helped push the reforms through the legislature last session, said she has received numerous calls from people who want to know why child-welfare authorities were not keeping closer watch on Lorinda Bailey, 35, and Wayne Sperling, 66. The parents of the four boys are out on bond and due in court this week to face four counts each of felony child abuse.

Among the questions: Why were the parents charged only with misdemeanors after their first three children were found playing in a busy street and were removed by child-welfare officials? Newell said she is looking at further reform, including strengthening criminal punishment for child abuse.

“How could this have happened to three children and then four more?” the senator asked. “Where was the breakdown? What can we do to catch this ahead of time next time?”

Colorado’s child ombudsman, whose job is to keep watch on the child-welfare system, has opened an investigation into the case handled by Denver caseworkers. A Colorado Department of Human Services review team also is investigating. The findings of those investigations will help lawmakers determine what other reforms are needed, Newell said.

Before the hotline is live, Colorado plans to launch a child-abuse public awareness campaign unprecedented in this state.

In Colorado, just 10 percent of calls to child welfare come from the public. The rest are from “mandatory reporters,” people including doctors and teachers who are required by law to report suspected abuse.

Compare that with New York, where 50 percent of all reports are initiated by the public.

“We need more eyes and ears on the street,” said Julie Krow, director of the state Office of Children, Youth and Families.

A committee set up by the legislature is writing a plan for the hotline and training with help from a consultant, and has visited model programs in New York and Ohio. The legislature must approve funding in 2014 in order for the hotline to open in January 2015.

Besides recording calls, the new system will collect data Colorado has not had: the number of calls dropped because of long wait times, analysis of whether the right questions were asked and whether the caseworker looked up the family’s history with child welfare.

“Once we roll out a hotline, we need to know if it’s working or not,” Krow said.

Jennifer Brown is an investigative reporter for The Denver Post, where she has worked since 2005. She has written about the child welfare system, mental health, education and politics. She previously worked for The Associated Press, The Tyler Morning Telegraph in Texas, and the Hungry Horse News in Montana.

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